ten horns, is called a wonder in heaven, Rev. xii. 13. In all which places the gospel church is meant. Now this is one of the heavens that is to pray for Jezreel whenever her day comes on. And this will be the bounden duty of the Gentile church; for the Jewish church prayed publicly for the Gentiles from age to age. Even Noah brought in Japheth in his predictions; Moses tells the Gentiles to rejoice with God's people; Solomon puts up his prayer for us, 1 Kings, viii. 41-43; and the Jewish church prays for her little sister that had no breasts, and promises to preach to her, and to build her up, as soon as the Messiah should send out orders to call her, Song viii. 8, 9, which the Lord did, Matt. xxviii. 19; and which promise the Jews fulfilled when they sent their ministers to the Gentiles, and bore their charges themselves; "For his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles." Now the Jews are to be prayed for, when this great day comes on, by the Gentiles; for out of Gentile Zion deliverance is to go to Jacob; and the mercy of Christ is to go to them through the mercy of the Gentiles. "For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy." mercy." And when this great day of Jezreel comes, and the Gentile church has her bowels of mercy stirred up in behalf of the Jews, then shall the Jews, who first carried

the gospel to the Gentiles, come to the Gentiles to receive the gospel back again. “Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie, behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee." But we must descend three times more before this great day of Jezreel and her cry comes on; for so says my text, "I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens."

"And they shall hear the earth," &c. By the earth is meant God's elect uncalled, unconverted, in their dead, carnal, earthly-minded state, being by sin earthly, sensual, devilish. Now this heap of earth is to cry, and the heavens are to hear the cry of the earth. But will such a dead lump of earth and sin ever cry to the heavens for help? No; they will not till they are compelled, and unless God smite them, and quicken them to feel the stroke; and this he promises shall be done by the King of kings, and Lords of lords; and, if mount Sinai trembled at the voice of God, it is no wonder if this animated clay should cry under his alarming stroke; for, "He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." The person that is to smite the earth is the King of saints; the rod is his sceptre, the gospel, which is the ministration of the Spirit; his word is spirit, and it is life. With this rod of his mouth the earth is to be smitten, reproved, rebuked, scourged, and

chastened; and to these it is the savour of life unto life; but to the unbelieving and wicked it is the savour of death unto death; "With the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked." The earth being smitten is to cry. This may be seen in Peter's audience; they being smitten, and the force of truth reaching the heart, they cried out, saying unto Peter, and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Acts ii. 37. The poor jailer, when he was smitten, cries also, saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" You see what is meant by smiting the earth; and you have heard the cry of the earth when it is smitten. And here I must drop a few thoughts which have just come flying into my head. A little before this cry was made Christ was praying to the Father, and he was answering him by a voice from heaven. Soon after that the apostles were praying that signs and wonders might be done by the name of the holy child Jesus. And here is the earth crying out to the apostles," Men and brethren, what shall we do?" "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Now my text says that the heavens shall hear the earth; and so they do. As soon as the earth cried out the heavens heard and answered. lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost as well as we; for the promise is to you, &c. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," says Paul, "and thou shalt be saved, and all thy house; and he rejoiced,

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Be

believing in God with all his house." Thus God hcars the apostles, and the apostles hear the poor sinners crying out of the dust. There is one observation in my text which I would by no means overlook. There is no sort or class of men under heaven that feel their need so deeply as poor biind sinners, when first smitten and wounded by the word; and there is no sort of men that cry, in all my text, that have so many attending to the voice of supplication as that of the earth. All and every thing of God that has a voice, must attend when the earth begins to cry. God makes the most provision for them that are ready to perish. God hears the heavens; that cry comes from two quarters; but the cry of the earth has no less than five different voices answering to it; for so says my text. "The heavens shall hear the earth, and the earth shall hear the corn, the wine, and the oil." The high priest, the church, the corn, wine, and oil, are all to hear the earth's cry. But then what voices can come from corn, wine, and oil?

The corn most certainly has a voice. The death and resurrection of Christ is compared to corn sown, and springing up with much fruit.

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Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

2. By corn is meant the word of God, especially the promises, which are the words of life. "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth

out the corn." That, says Paul, is spoken for our sakes no doubt. Treading out the corn is explaining the word of God, Deut. xxv. 4; 1 Cor. ix. 9.

"Corn shall make the young men cheerful and new wine the maids."

3. The children of God are compared to wheat, and the children of the wicked one to tares, in our Lord's parable. And again: "For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth." The death of Christ has an attracting voice to poor sinners. "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." The promises are God's alluring voice to sensible souls, who feel their need of mercy. Nor is there any state that the elect of God can be in, unto whom the promises of God are so innumerable, and to whom they speak so sweetly endearing and encouraging, as to awakened sinners, who tremble at the law, and are both poor and needy. The promise is to you, says Peter; and Paul brings forth the promises made to the Gentiles in his ministry: "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord." Every true believer in Christ, whether weak or strong, has an ear to attend to the voice of awakened sinners. "And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee," Mark x. 49. And thus the crucifixion of Christ, the promises of life, and every living saint, have a voice of